Our First Activity with a sister association.
A Voyage of Discovery in the Foret d'Epagne
Open Door's first outdoor activity – a gentle stroll through the Forêt d'Epagne guided by Association Gabbr'O member, Marthe Pateyron – attracted more than 20 French and British members.
The forest has grown on a site that is
extremely rare in that the rock gabbro is normally found beneath the
world's
oceans. It's an extremely hard rock, formed when molten volcanic magma
cools
underwater. It's named after the Italian town of Gabbro where it was
first identified and has
several similarities to basalt and dolerite. It's actually a good
source of
rare metals such as gold and silver but, be warned, it's
protected on this site in the Limousin!!
Because of its unusual chemical, as well as physical, properties it
supports
plants that are also rare in this part of France and it was these which
attracted the interest of most of the party.
Probably of most interest at this time of the year were the wild garlic
(ail
des ours or 'bear garlic') and wild
hyacinth (scille lys jacinthe). I actually thought Marthe was referring
to our
english bluebells but in fact the shape of the flower head was quite
different
and this is a plant that belongs both to the hyancinth and asparagus
families
and prefers chalky soil (ours is normally acid).
Other interesting plants were the parisette (almost entirely
green flowers), préle (a flowering reed), Solomon's Seal (well known in
Our group were also able to see, at first hand,
active badger sets and foxes' dens – the two living
side-by-side in the forest.
At the end of the walk, our group were treated to a fine aperitif of pesto d'ail des ours – homemade by Marthe – and British cakes and biscuits prepared by Delphine and Helen.
Peter
Notre première activité avec une association jumelle.
Un voyage de découverte dans la forêtd’Epagne.
D'autres plantes intéressantes:la parisette (fleurs vertes) la prêle, le sceau de Salomon (cultivé en Angleterre qui ressemble à du gros muguet) le coucou, la lathrée clandestine (plante parasite de couleur violette qui pousse sur les racines des arbres).